Monday, December 3, 2012

PRIORITY MAILED COOKIES......by Diane Ogden

It takes three full days to make my Gma Tillie's cookies because the dough is put onto the cookie sheet the size of a thumbnail. So a LARGE bowl of dough takes all day, early morning to late evening, to place them on the sheets, bake tehm, cool them off, place them in jars. Then order the labels, place them on the jars, make the cloth tops, tie them on, add the little story and photo page, place in bubble wrap, lay gently in shoe boxes, add all the plastic bags you can find to cushion them further. Get the boxes from the post office...look up everyone's address and fill out the address labels.... put the shoe box inside the Priority Mail boxes and add all the clean old rags and towels you can find to cushion them further. Then tape them all up good and put them in car and drive to post office again. Several trips walking the eight or nine boxes inside in the rain. My turn at the window! The lady tells me $15.45 for each of the priority boxes. I was so upset I couldn't add it up in my head $15.45 times the number of boxes all stacked up ahead of me. I told her WHAT? She said I should have sent them in a regular box. (Every other time I go in they tell me I should go priority as it cost less???) And there is a line of people behind me. I could have carried them all back out to my car, drove home, unpacked them all, ruined all the labels and started all over. Packed them in different boxes. Blah, Blah, Blah

NOT SO MUCH! I would have saved a little $ but not enough to do it. So I took deep breath and swiped the card!
$104.80 to send my Christmas Cookies to Eight families. Did I cry on the way home? Nope, but I doubt I will be doing my lil tradition anymore. I hate to let the Federal Government stop me from sharing Grandma Tillie's cookies but that is ridiculous.
And I have a couple more to send out! S H U T U P!!

I am mad that the joy got stolen by the Post Office. Oh I forgot to tell you. There was a little old lady in line that spoke up and said, "Hey, don't you know its not cool to bring that many boxes in here at this time of day?" I almost spoke badly but I held it in. Then she said, "Hope you can take a joke!" Don't ya just hate those people that say exactly what they mean and then pretend its a joke.

Well they are mailed. I hope they get enjoyed. So until the next time I make a million cookies the size of quarters, fill the jars, pack them up and get he sticker shock of mailing them......or I find something more interesting. Be well, be safe, be happy, and get rich so you don't give a hoot what it costs to mail your wonderful Grannie's cookies!

Julianna Rowe: My pseudonym or pen name

"Writing stories with parts of my life mingled within the pages takes me to places I love. It also re-writes certain pages of my life that needed a few touch ups. Sort of like when you wake from a bad dream and fix the ending before totally waking up. That is what my books are about. Truths and fabrications within the walls of my mind. Mostly fabrications from my vivid imagination."

My Lifebook "More Than Meets the Eye"

Love Letters.....from Daddy.

About the Book

Letters to his daughters while incarcerated.....

Feeling helpless, alone, and unable to offer a touch, Daniel spent hours drawing, writing, offering advice the only way he could. These were all written in 2004 until I assembled all the ones I could find into this book for his daughters to hold on to until he comes home.